The Media Project is a network of mainstream journalists who are Christians pursuing accurate and intellectually honest reporting on all aspects of culture, particularly the role of religion in public life in all corners of the world. It welcomes friends from other faiths to such discussions and training.

Oct 4

Oct 4 Israeli court opposes segregated sidewalks

PUBLISHED AT HUFFINGTON POST.JERUSALEM (RNS) - Ultra-Orthodox leaders on Tuesday (Sept. 28) removed barriers separating men and women from a Jerusalem street after Israel's High Court of Justice ruled that the tall screens were illegal.

Representatives of the Eda Haredit, an ultra-Orthodox organization that enforces modesty, erected the barriers in the religious neighborhood of Meah Sha'arim at the start of the Sukkot holiday to ensure that men and women could not touch or mingle.

On Monday, the ELLA-Israel Feminist Group and two members of the Jerusalem City Council petitioned the court to remove the barriers and the guards who were hired to enforce gender separation.

In its ruling, the court acknowledged that the screens used to separate the genders were used only along a 45-foot-long area near a crowded synagogue, and used only late at night during crowded holiday period, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Nevertheless, the court said barriers cannot be erected on a public street.

The court's decision comes against the backdrop of escalating tensions between Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox leadership and non-Orthodox residents, who say hard-line conservatives are trying to impose ultra-stringent religious standards on the public at large.